To evaluate the clinical outcome of patients who received an Ahmed or Baerveldt implant for refractory glaucoma at the University Hospitals Leuven and to identify the factors which may influence the outcome.Retrospective study including 62 eyes with uncontrolled glaucoma, who underwent the implantation of a drainage device between January 2002 and December 2008. Criteria for complete success were an intraocular pressure (IOP) < or = 21 mmHg and > 5 mmHg, and a minimum 20% decrease in IOP compared to baseline, without additional medications at 2 consecutive visits after 3 months. Qualified success was defined as the same criteria with additional medications. If these criteria were not met, if additional glaucoma surgery was needed, or if the eye became phtitic, the case was classified as failure. Other outcome measurements were IOP reduction, additional glaucoma medications at the last follow-up, visual acuity, visual field, and complications.Over a mean follow-up period of 25 +/- 21,91 months, the mean intraocular pressure decreased from 27,98 +/- 6,5 mmHg to 15,2 +/- 5,87 mmHg (mean drop of 45%) at the last visit. Overall success (i.e. with or without medication) was 67.3%. Visual acuity improved or remained unchanged in 52/62 (83,9%) of patients. Eight patients (12,9%) had complications with significant visual loss (at least two Snellen lines worse) and five patients (8,1%) needed further surgery due to complications. No significant outcome predictors could be established.Ahmed and Baerveldt implants are a safe and effective procedure for lowering the IOP in the management of refractory glaucoma.
Purified glial membrane preparations have been isolated from horse brain striatum. Tritiated 5-HT bound to these membranes with a high affinity (KD = 10 nM); the corresponding binding is reversible and appears specific of the serotoninergic structure. In parallel, 5-HT activates an adenylate cyclase with a low affinity (KD = 1 microM). The sites involved in this binding and in this adenylate cyclase activation appear different from the serotoninergic sites reported in the neuronal membrane preparations.
Part B: Applied Biomaterials is a highly interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal serving the needs of biomaterials professionals who design, develop, produce and apply biomaterials and medical devices.It has the common focus of biomaterials applied to the human body and covers all disciplines where medical devices are used.Papers are published on biomaterials related to medical device development and manufacture, degradation in the body, nano-and biomimetic-biomaterials interactions, mechanics of biomaterials, implant retrieval and analysis, tissue-biomaterial surface interactions, wound healing, infection, drug delivery, standards and regulation of devices, animal and pre-clinical studies of biomaterials and medical devices, and tissue-biopolymer-material combination products.
